Hiroshima, Japan, October 14, 2019 - Poland held onto second place at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Monday, beating Canada 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-20) in an assured showing at Hiroshima Green Arena.
Poland coach Vital Heynen: “I knew before that this would be a difficult match - to get the focus again 15 or 17 hours later after the five-set match yesterday. I think Canada played very well pushing us, and I’m happy that the guys from the bench - in this case mostly (Artur) Szalpuk and (Fabian) Drzyzga - were giving us a bit more space to win.”
Poland captain Michal Kubiak: “We are happy we won, that’s for sure. Canada had their chances in the second set, but they didn’t execute (them) so we are even more happy with that. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s game because we are still fighting for second place in this tournament. It will be extremely important tomorrow, so we are going to do everything to win.”
Canada coach Daniel Lewis: “Congratulations to Poland. They have repeatedly shown us this year why they are one of the best teams in the world, if not the best, and there’s always a lesson to take away after you play this team. I’m extremely proud of our team, Canada, today. It’s the 10th match of the tournament and they’re fighting so hard for every point. They executed extremely well for 80 percent of every set, and the last 20 percent we need to refine our game a little bit, and when we do that, when we find this 20 percent - after 20 (points), basically - then we’re going to be able to compete with the best. Until then we’ll keep searching."
Canada captain Nicholas Hoag: “Overall I think this was a pretty good match for us. We were tight with Poland in all three sets, against one of the best teams in the world, which is very important with this young group. I think we just need to polish some of the last few details at the end of sets, especially after 20 (points). We had the opportunity to win at least two out of three sets, and the game would have changed after that. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game we had today. But, like I said, just the small details that Poland didn’t miss at the end of those sets, and they ended up winning.”
Canada player Sharone Vernon-Evans: “I think the match was good, I’m proud of the way the team played. We showed a good compete level throughout the whole match, and that’s what we want to focus on a lot - always to fight hard and play as a team. So I’m proud of that, because everyone was engaged throughout the whole match and everyone wanted to win. Like Nick (captain Nicholas Hoag) said, we just needed to polish some things afar 20 (points). But everyone’s engaged and wants to keep improving, and that’s very special with the young group we have. I’m just proud of how everyone played and how well we were coached throughout this game.”